


the end of all things

by uglypapi (babeRuthless)



Category: Nova Lux (D&D), Original Work
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, people die when they are dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:46:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23181946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babeRuthless/pseuds/uglypapi
Summary: in these coming years, many things will change / but the way i feel will remain the sameinspired by the end of all things by p!atdthe story of how reeder met lydia and how lydia lost reeder.(somewhere along the way, they fall in love.)
Relationships: Lydia/Reeder
Kudos: 4





	the end of all things

**Author's Note:**

> *cracks knuckles* it's street rules folks. no capitalizing no proof-reading. we die like men.  
> amiright reeder?  
> [the crowd boos]

it’s a good thing they found a healer, because reeder’s chest feels tight and he’s sure he’s been struck by cupid’s arrow.

the group of mercenaries sat around the fire and waited patiently as the young elf tends to gray’s wounds. they all watch her nimble hands work tediously on the injuries, quick to tuck away a stray dark curl behind her ear. reeder could feel the arrow go straight through his head, point blank.

she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. 

“i can’t believe our luck,” gray announces to the red arrows. milo and finnick roll their eyes, knowing that gusto and over-confident smile all too well. “the gods themselves sent an angel to me.”

the young woman’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise and she blinks once, twice, before continuing her work and gray winces in pain.

“oh dear,” she says innocently, but reeder sees the mischievous glint in her golden eyes. “that must hurt.”

“this must be heaven.” gray continues through gritted teeth.

“no, but i can arrange that if you’d rather.” she mutters and reeder chuckles quietly, seemingly the only one who heard. she glances up to him, light from the fire dancing across her features and reeder can feel the arrow twisting, turning his brain to mush. 

_say something, say something!_ the cherubs sing into his ear. he pulls his red scarf away from his mouth, but the words feel stuck in his throat. his smile is shy, but she smiles back and it gives reeder the push he needs.

“what’s your name?” he asks softly, and he’s afraid the words won’t make it to her. there’s a small silence before she glances back down to her work.

“lydia.” she says finally. “my name is lydia.” 

reeder pulls his scarf back up to hide his smile and milo grins at him knowingly, but doesn’t say anything.

the rest of the group continues idle conversation, but he’s not listening.

 _lydia, lydia, lydia_. he repeats to himself. her name sounds like a love song and it’s stuck in his head. he finds himself nearly humming the entire walk to the next village, her laugh the perfect melody.

——

it’s been a year since lydia joined the red arrows. by the time finnick gave her a formal offer, she already felt like a member of their makeshift family. gray had barked out a laugh because course she had to join, they’d die without her; regardless, lydia accepted the invite.

it’s been a year, and reeder still got butterflies every time he looked at her. as they travel together through kingdoms and countrysides, lydia and reeder dance around each other with shy smiles and lingering glances.

the red arrows found themselves in a sleepy logging village deep in the mountains, where they were to acquire a stolen treasure map and return it to its rightful owner. not a job they typically took on, but money is money.

he watches her from across the table of the busy inn and reeder can’t help but wonder what it would be like if they met on different terms, what if would be like if they were just two normal people growing up in a town like this. maybe they’d fall in love and settle down. more than likely, reeder thinks, he’d still be too nervous to tell her.

he takes a long sip of his ale.

“shit,” lydia mutters, and he follows her glance to finnick. the three of them are keeping watch while gray and milo sneak into their targets room, but gray fumbles and draws too much attention. finnick waves his hand to lydia and reeder to signal them to do something, quickly. “we need to create a distraction.”

she stands abruptly and starts walking away, making up a plan as she goes but reeder is a step ahead of her.

“wait!” he shouts too loud, drawing more attention to them. lydia whips back around, eyes wide in surprise, but she looks curious. reeders heart throbs in his ears, and he takes a step forward. “i can’t let you go back there.” he adds, and it takes lydia a moment to follow along.

“what choice do i have?” she announces and it sounds like a plea. they fall into an improvised performance, unsure where it’s going but reeder is quick enough to keep the attention and lydia is deceptive enough to make it believable. “it’s my duty to my father to—“

“i don’t care what your father wants.” reeder cuts in. the drama stirs up an audience and he glances over lydias shoulder to finnick. he has his eyes locked on their target, who is now watching their performance as well. finnick flashes him a thumbs up before signaling to the others to get the job done. “it’s my duty to make sure you’re happy. what do you want?” 

lydia takes a small step back and glances down. a few murmurs spread through the crowd. “i want to stay.” she says, quiet but firm.

“then marry me.” he blurts before he could talk himself out of it, before he could even process what it is he’s saying. the crowd gasps around him and lydias head jerks back up in surprise. in the corner, finnicks jaw hangs open in shock. “s-stay here, and marry me.” he took a few steps forward, closing the space between them. “i don’t have a ring; i don’t have much of anything really—but i have love. and if you’ll have my hand,” he drops himself down onto one knee and extends his hand. lydia flushes a deep red and reeder can feel his ears turning pink, heat spreading down his neck. “if you’ll have my hand, i’ll make sure you’re happy here.”

“reeder,” it comes out like a whisper of disbelief. he takes a deep inhale and can’t look away.

“will you marry me?” he asks again. a shy smile ghosting across her lips and her eyes lingering on him, and it all feels so familiar to him. she slips her hand into his and it feels electric.

“yes.” she finally answers, and even reeder can’t quite tell if she’s acting or not. “yes, of course i’ll marry you.” she says again, louder. the inn erupts in cheers and a grin splits across his face. he launches himself up, pulling her into a hug and spinning her around. she giggles and holds him tight, a hand sliding into his hair. it feels so right.

reeder watches as milo and gray make their way back downstairs and slip out the front with finnick, their exits completely undetected through the commotion.

“i thought you’d never ask.” lydia smiles as he sets her back down. she cups his face with her freehand. he places his hand over hers briefly before lacing their fingers together and making towards the door.

“come on, let’s celebrate tonight. we’ll leave first thing in the morning to tell our families.” he pulls her out into the snow, and they make their way to the rendezvous point. whoops and hollers of congratulations echo behind them, and they’re practically running to find the others.

“holy shit.” reeder says finally, nerves catching up with him and lydia burst into laughter. he glances over, cheeks pink and snowflakes catching on her long dark lashes. reeder laughs too.

they giggle the entire way back to the rest of the red arrows, and through the entire retelling of what just happened. they don’t realize they’re still holding hands, and no one points it out.

they keep up the fake engagement for over a year after that, pretending to date for various jobs and distractions until one day, they’re alone and lydia is fumbling through her words.

“i just think, um, that. i-we’ve known each other for so long, reeder. and i,” her hands were wringing the hem of her tunic and her eyes were looking anywhere but him. lydias nerves are contagious and reeder could feel his heartbeat race. “and we’ve been, pretending to, um, date for so long, that, what if. um. why pretend when w-we could—.” reeders grin grows wider and wider as he realizes what she is asking.

he places one hand on her shoulder and the other on her cheek. her words stammer to a stop and she blinks up at him. “my heart is yours, lydia.” he says, sounding smooth despite his trembling fingers. her smile is dazzling as his thumb traces over her lip. “it has been for sometime now.”

——

it’s nearly a decade later when they find themselves back in that small logging village. the snow has long since melted and the air is crisp with a warm summer breeze. it looks like an entirely new town, but something about it still feels the same—it holds a special place in both their hearts.

reeder leads her around town, looking at various shops and plazas and when the sun dips past the horizon, he makes a beeline towards the forest.

just outside the village, they stop in a large meadow filled with what must be hundreds of fireflies lighting the night sky. lydia gasps with wonder and reaches out, a few fireflies floating close by landing on her. “it’s so beautiful.” she breathes.

“this place has the highest concentration of fireflies on the continent.” reeder explains, guiding her into the meadow. he’s rambling out of nervousness and he tries to focus on the lights dance around them, flicking with no real rhythm. “i’ve been wanting to come back here ever since i heard about it. it seems like something you’d enjoy,”

“it is.” she agrees easily, still smiling at the light show around her.

“and, it’s—it’s my duty to make sure you’re happy.” lydia turns to look at him, the words familiar, and finds him on one knee. she blinks slowly, connecting the dots.

“you don’t have a ring.” she says, glancing from his pockets to his empty hands and as if on cue, fledge swoops in and drops a small velvet box.

“i do have a ring,” he smiles. fledge coos affectionately before soaring back into the trees. “and i have love.” reeder pops open the box and a small diamond ring stares up at her, shining with the lights around them. “will you marry me, lydia?”

tears well up in her eyes and she slips her finger onto the ring. she chokes back a laugh and crashes into him, sending them to the ground. they kiss and he laughs into her smile, drinking in her warmth.

this time, lydia doesn’t have to say yes. reeder knows the answer.

——

the sun hangs low in the sky and their world is set aflame. the air is thick with smoke and metal and death and reeder is gasping for air. 

he’s running full speed, feet pounding on the hot soil and heart throbbing out of his chest. There are monsters surrounding them and he watches as lydia gets cornered. she fumbles a bit with her bow and arrow, not her usual choice in battle but they are growing desperate. the others push back, trying to defend themselves or attack from afar, but it’s futile. they are outmatched and outnumbered.

lydia manages to dodge and lands a hit with the bow and arrow, killing the beast with a shot straight through its forehead. reeder thinks of when they first met and feels dizzy. he runs harder and lydia is losing her ground.

“stay back reeder!” she calls out, but reeder is staring at the hot orb of fire hurtling towards her. his heart drops and he desperately tries to close the space between them. “reeder!” she yells again as a warning.

“watch out!” he yells back and as lydia manages to yank her arrow out of the skull in front of her. she finally looks up and sees the aerial attack too late.

“she can’t die _._ ” reeder pleads to any God that is listening. “please, not her. don’t kill her.”

reeder reaches out to him, desperate to save her. lydia reaches back despite the fact she’s yelling for him to run away.

“get back, reeder!” he hears half a second before the explosion hits.

half a second. that’s all the time he needs to leap at lydia and throw himself in the way of the attack. he doesn’t even think twice about it, he doesn’t need to. his world goes hot and white in a surge, and his life flashes before his eyes.

“reeder!”

when he looks back on it all, he doesn’t think much about the bad things. he doesn’t think about the lives he took, the lives he couldn’t save, the war they couldn’t win. 

those aren’t the parts he wants to remember.

instead, he thinks about is his friends. 

he thinks about growing up with milo, mischievous and too smart for his own good, and the adventures they set out on the open road. 

he thinks about the nights he spent camped up under the stars with the red arrows, fighting and laughing and crying with them.

but mostly, he thinks about lydia's laugh.

the shy laugh when they first met, the nervous giggle after the first time he proposed, the delighted laugh after he _really_ proposed.

in an indistinct way, reeder knows he’s dying. he manages to peel open his eyes and they have a hard time focusing, but he knows it’s lydia above him.

“your laugh,” he chokes out, barely a whisper. he knows she’s screaming, screaming at him, screaming for help, but he doesn’t hear it. “i’ve always loved your laugh, lyddie.”

he feels a hand on his cheek and he closes his eyes again.

he hums the melody, back from the beginning, but all he hears is her laugh.

the world is warm and light, and this time he isn’t nervous. 


End file.
